And a chocolate cream pie that changed my opinion about chocolate cream pie at Bavette’s. Usually, it’s just my husband and I so after the glory that is Bavette’s seafood tower, steak, chicken, and corn (why is that corn so good, someone tell me), we can’t even look at dessert but that’s the benefit of having friends in town who are dessert people- insistence on dessert.

Related: dessert people are the best people.

Also related: can everyone we love and adore spending time with please move to Chicago? Thanks.

Not pictured: fried pickles for lunch at the Butcher’s Tap, drinks and apps at Gilt and the egg sandwich I needed from the Eastman Egg Company truck that was basically parked outside of my front door on Sunday. Like I said- friends, food, food, friends.

Which brings us to tonight:

Vegetable soup as far as the eye can see. #balance

Aside from the really wonderful meals, this weekend left me so full of everything I love about life- time spent with our people. Old stories, new stories, laughing, listening, future, past. That connection feeds me and can’t imagine a life without a table between us sharing all of that…and dessert.

Our life pretty much consists of work, work, work, condo, condo, condo. Weeks are flying by due to extra long hours at our respective jobs and every spare minute is devoted to getting things ready for the move into our new place next month. It’s been a lot of “I want to be there now” and this weekend was the perfect answer to that. A fun event at the Chicago History Museum on Friday night, a lovely al fresco lunch at Little Market where I had the best veggie burger of my life, time at the pool soaking in some long awaited perfect summer weather and an outstanding meal at Bavette’s where we took one look at a nearby tables seafood tower and decided that this was our celebration dinner. We toasted our future (and dug into our own seafood tower!) but in doing that, we really celebrated where we’ve been the last few years. Bavette’s sent us home with chocolate cream pie that we ate on our porch while watching the city go by below us and I couldn’t help but think that as excited as I am to move into all that’s coming next, right this second couldn’t get any sweeter.